School Day: A Recipe For Learning

GLOUCESTER — When Gloucester High School junior Kody Middleton entered the school's culinary arts program last year, his repertoire started and ended with scrambled eggs.

Now, halfway though his second year in the program, he's graduated to more sophisticated fare, like meatloaf and lasagna. Nowadays, he said, he's just as likely to improvise as he is to stick to a recipe.

"It was kind of a joke at first. It was like, 'He's going to take a cooking class because he likes to eat,' " Middleton said. "But then I realized I really, really liked it and decided to make it a career."

Middleton said he had started researching culinary schools. And he's just the type of protege whom chef/instructor Dane Macan had in mind when Macan left the world of professional kitchens to return to his alma mater.

A member of Gloucester's class of 2003, Macan graduated with honors in 2005 from the Culinary Institute of America, arguably the country's most prestigious cooking school. He then worked in kitchens in Albany, N.Y., and at the Sea Island Resort in Georgia.

Jim Willis, who molded Gloucester's program and mentored Macan, retired from Gloucester last year. He tapped his former student to succeed him. Macan - a new father keen to leave behind the cutthroat mentality and 120-hour workweeks that are the norm for professional cooks - took the offer.

Part of the job's appeal, Macan said, was steering students to an avenue that could lead to a college education and a well-paying career. For the past two academic years, just 36 percent of Gloucester graduates have gone on to a four-year college, according to Kim Chandler, director of guidance at the school.Just less than 50 percent of graduates statewide and 52 percent for Hampton Roads go on to four-year colleges, according to state data.

"Being from the area, I know the population," Macan said. "Some of the students I graduated with are sweeping the floors at Food Lion.

"I'm trying to give some of these kids an advantage."

The culinary arts program, certified by the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation, has 30 students spread across two levels. Of students finishing up their second year, four or five are considering cooking school, and a couple more are looking at event planning and hospitality programs, Macan said.

On a recent weekday afternoon, the school's professional-grade kitchen hummed with activity as students prepped a coming catered lunch for Peasley Middle School faculty. A student stood watch over a stock pot simmering with chicken tortilla soup. Others hand-shaped meatballs to add to waiting pans of baked ziti overseen by Middleton and another student.

A serene Macan moved from station to station, tasting, suggesting additions and gently offering pointers.

"The biggest challenge was, at first, I'd start using terminology that any professional cook would know - but that your average person doesn't know," Macan said. "Once we got over that, it's just like working in a regular kitchen."

Macan's students spend 41/2 hours in his classroom three days a week. That includes about three hours preparing and serving food at the school's International Cafe and 11/2 hours more split between cleanup and a short lecture by Macan.

The cook-turned-teacher's best advice for students considering a cooking career?

"Be on time, he said. "That's the biggest thing in a professional kitchen: It's a race against the clock."

With new and interesting gastronomic options expected to follow the "big-box" retail coming to Gloucester, Macan said he hoped that some of his students could make a living in cooking without having to leave the county.

And for those who don't decide to turn pro, he said, at least he'll have shown them that there's more to culinary life than the frozen-foods aisle at the supermarket.

"I hate to say it, but nowadays, people want just want to eat chicken nuggets, pizza," he said.

"Hopefully, now when they go home, they can say, 'This is what I made in school today.' Hopefully, they can take pride in making and eating food that's good and fresh."

ONLINE EXTRA: Chef Dan Macan returns to his alma mater to teach cuisine to Gloucester High School students. Watch a video of a class at dailypress.com/cooking.